Mr Duck’s class of the 1890s

We know a little about John Duck who was a local lad who became headmaster of the village school. We have dealt with his life in a piece called ‘Ducks in the Churchyard’ and you can click here to read it.

This picture shows John Duck with his class of boys.

1890s photo of the Boys’ School in Market Lavington

Back in the 1890s the village school operated as two different seats of learning. Within the building there was a boys’ school and a girls’ school.

Amongst the boys we believe there are J A Gye and S Merritt. We also believe there is a member of the Potter family. All three families were well known in the village at that time.

We could point out here the dangers of old photo mounts which have caused staining at the corners. In this case it is only to the card mount.

We can also point out that the photos from 120 years ago had real quality by looking at some enlargements.

John Duck – school headmaster

There is John Duck – who looks to be the most relaxed person in the photo.

And there we see a couple of his charges.

These images can be digitally altered. The original has faded over 120 years and here we see a part re-rendered in black and white and given a tad more contrast.

It’s a very long shot that we’d ever identify who the lads are but we can always hope.

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This entry was posted on April 9, 2014 at 5:32 am and is filed under Museum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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